TxDOT proposes to expand Mo-Pac with toll lanes

By Thom White

AUSTIN April 21, 2007 -- Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) representatives held a meeting April 17 with a West Austin neighborhood group to showcase their new plan to add toll lanes on Mo-Pac Expressway (Loop 1) along with sound barriers between the road and residential areas.

To fit in the new toll lanes (one lane going each direction), TxDOT will reduce the width of all “general purpose” lanes from 12 feet to 11 feet, eliminate most of the left shoulder, and reduce the size of the right shoulder in many places.

Some are worried that the additional lane will make it more dangerous to drive and create crowded traffic conditions. There is also concern that eliminating the left shoulder will make it tougher for emergency vehicles to reach the scene of a wreck.

TxDOT defended the plan, saying it complies with a resolution passed in 2005 by the Capital Area Planning Organization (CAMPO) regarding future expansion of Mo-Pac, a statement which emphasized that neighbors do not want the road to be elevated, and that no homes or businesses should be taken away by the state to expand the road.

Attendees at the Mo-Pac Neighborhood Associations Coalition (MONAC) meeting reiterated their desire for the sound walls along Mo-Pac that have been promised by the highway department for years. Neighbors are anxious to block traffic noise, but they are lukewarm on the toll lane proposal.

TxDOT will get 80% of the money for the project out of federal highway funds, and according to current rules, the sound walls can only be built using these funds if they “expand capacity” on Mo-Pac, meaning add more lanes.

Even though carpool (high-occupancy vehicle) lanes would likely relieve more traffic congestion, TxDOT proposes to put “managed lanes” going each direction because “the pricing fee helps manage the flow in the lane.”

TxDOT spokespeople prefer to call the additional lanes drivers will have to pay to go on “managed lanes” rather than toll lanes, and for the toll to be called a “fee.” The fee to drive in the toll lanes extending from Parmer Lane (FM 734) down to Cesar Chavez (1st) St., will change depending on the time of day and traffic conditions, meaning the worse the traffic is on Mo-Pac, the more money you will have to fork over to the tolling authority for the privilege to avoid congestion in “general purpose” lanes.

The toll lanes will be electronically managed and monitored with surveillance cameras and all drivers wishing to use the public roadway will be required to identify their cars with a TxTollTag. There will be no live police patrolling the managed lanes.

Although TxDOT says the new toll lanes will improve traffic, many at the MONAC meeting believe the additional lane each way will not help resolve the real traffic problems on Mo-Pac. Some residents said that short entrance and exit ramps, and problem intersections with US-183 and 2222 that often back up during rush hour are sources of much of the transit congestion. Others pointed out that the bridge over Town Lake is the main bottleneck and that if that bridge alone were widened with an additional lane going each way, it could resolve a serious choke point along the thoroughfare.

TxDOT responded that many of the problem intersections and ramps are “City of Austin issues” and that it is hard to coordinate with the city to correct these problems.

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